Fired Store Clerk Gets Job

FORT LAUDERDALE -- A convenience store clerk, fired for spraying a persistent armed robber with Mace, has been hired by an employer who read a newspaper story about his dismissal.

Javier Salazar, fired from his job at a Citgo Quik-Mart store on South Federal Highway after using the self-defense chemical to help police catch a suspect, now is working at Pier 66 hotel, manager Bob Kramm said.

``His courage and conviction made me want to know more about him,`` Kramm said. ``His employer perceived him to be in violation of a policy against using weapons. It was a tough judgment call. I was sympathetic to his situation.``

The Southland Corp., which owns the Citgo where Salazar worked and the national 7-Eleven convenience store chain, has a policy that directs employees not to resist robbers and not to keep any kind of weapon in a store.

Salazar said a man stole cartons of cigarettes from the Citgo store five times and robbed him at knife-point once in less than two months.

``You can only take so much and then you`ve got to fight back,`` Salazar said.

On Oct. 5, when the sixth theft was attempted, Salazar sprayed the man with the Mace and police caught a suspect near the store as he tried to flee on a bicycle, according to a police report.

After reading about the incident in the News/Sun-Sentinel, Kramm called the paper to encourage Salazar to apply for a job at Pier 66.